


(You're The) Devil in Disguise

by jaded_and_restless



Category: Oz (TV)
Genre: Community: hardtime100, M/M, flashfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 17:00:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6203515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaded_and_restless/pseuds/jaded_and_restless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toby's new neighbor is not what he seems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(You're The) Devil in Disguise

It was Saturday morning when Toby met his new neighbor.

He was out on his porch to get the paper when he saw a moving truck right across the street.

Judging from the stuff strewn all over the sidewalk, his neighbor was most likely a bachelor. The animal print couch was a dead giveaway, plus the tiger rug. He didn't think those even existed outside a 70's porno.

The blond was too busy appraising his neighbor's rather questionable taste in furniture to notice said neighbor observing him right back.

"Good morning," a voice called out.

Beecher jumped, spilling his coffee. He whipped his head around and stared.

The guy was muscular as hell, and he flaunted it by wearing a skintight wife-beater, faded jeans, and boots. He flashed Toby a bright smile, showing off perfect teeth and matching dimples.

Toby realized he was ogling. "Good morning," he stammered.

"Hi, I'm Christopher Keller," the man said, sauntering over. He stuck out a hand. "Call me Chris."

"Tobias Beecher. Welcome to the neighborhood." Beecher shivered the moment their hands met, the newcomer's presence making his hair stand on end.

His instincts were hollering at him to run back inside the house and barricade the door. He didn't know why, but he felt that there was something not quite...right with Chris.

Keller detected Beecher's discomfort. If anything, it only made him smile wider.

"Nice to meet you Toby," Chris drawled, his touch lingering a bit too long. Toby tried to tug his hand away, but he held fast. A silent battle of wills ensued.

"Hey Mr. Keller, where do you want us to put your stuff?" one of the movers yelled, shattering the moment.

Chris gave Toby another heart-stopping grin. "I'll see you around then," he said, making it sound like a promise.

Beecher could only gawp at the retreating figure. He tried not to look at Keller's ass while he was at it.

_________________________

Toby didn't see his peculiar neighbor again for a week. Not that he was actively evading the guy; he just made sure not to cross paths with Chris.

It wasn't that hard actually. He went to work early and came home late. By the time he arrived, Keller was already ensconced inside his house, his black Jaguar parked in the driveway.

Beecher was well into the deep part of his sleep when Keller popped in.

"You've been avoiding me," Chris said, apropos of nothing.

Toby blinked and saw Chris standing by the edge of his bed, arms crossed. That image alone would've scared the shit out of him, but he was kind of distracted by the massive black wings sprouting from Keller's back.

Beecher assumed they were wings; they were more like wing-shaped holes that sucked out every ounce of light from the room. He heard the faint rustle of feathers scraping the floor.

He always had a couple of martinis before going to bed, and not once did it lead to some kind of alcohol-induced phantasm. He certainly wasn't dreaming of his neighbor, shirtless and glowering at him.

It took him a while to get his voice back. "What are you? A demon?" Beecher asked, trembling.

"I prefer the term fallen angel," Keller clarified.

Toby made a mental note to stock up on garlic and crucifixes first thing in the morning.

"You're thinking of vampires," Keller said, reading his mind. "You know those are just old wives' tales right? Vampires don't exist." He grinned at Beecher, his eyes turning red.

"But demons, we're very real."

Toby couldn't help it. He screamed.

________________________

Beecher was in the middle of scooping out holy water from the font when a priest approached him.

"Can I help you?"

"Are you Father Mukada?"

"Yes. And you are?"

"Tobias Beecher. Um," Toby put down the jerrycan he was holding and shook the priest's hand, "I have a demon problem."

The priest shot him a weird look. "There's counseling for that."

"No! I mean literally. He's my neighbor and he came to me last night. I need to protect myself."

"I see," Mukada said, tone dubious.

"Is it possible for you to come today and bless my house? And do you know where I can buy crucifixes in bulk?"

"I'd be happy to bless your house, but are you sure it's a demon and not just some nightmare?" Mukada inquired. The man was clearly unhinged.

"Father, I don't know exactly what I saw, but I'm not taking any chances."

Mukada must've seen something in his expression, because the priest finally relented.

"There's a gift shop at the back. You can buy your crosses there."

________________________

Keller didn't visit him again. Maybe the crucifixes had deterred him, or because he had enough holy water to fill a swimming pool with. Perhaps he just drank a bad batch of gin and it made him hallucinate the whole thing.

Either way, Toby didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

Toby was turning his car around the corner when he saw Chris and a bunch of other people milling about the front lawn.

As if the brunet had a built-in Toby radar, he immediately spotted the lawyer and motioned for him to come over.

Beecher wanted nothing more than to drive in the opposite direction, but good manners won out and he found himself walking over to say hello.

A guy who looked like that couldn't possibly be Satan's henchman. It just didn't make any sense.

Or so Beecher told himself.

"Hiya Tobe. I'm having a little housewarming party. Wanna join us?"

Toby looked around. He didn't see any of his other neighbors. Save from the loud music blasting from Keller's house and his guests in full party mode, the rest of the street was eerily quiet and empty.

"Let me introduce you to some of my...ah, colleagues."

Some of them Toby already knew, and those he didn't know by name, he was familiar with. Like Shirley the librarian, and Jaz the owner of a local auto shop. A man in his mid-forties with the watery blue eyes delivered his mail. The surly bitch of a meter maid who always gave him parking tickets. The guy who stacked shelves at a nearby supermarket.

"....Vern Schillinger, Claire Howell, James Robson."

Without warning, Robson encroached on Beecher's personal space and sniffed him.

"You smell really sweet. And you look good enough to eat," Robson leered, licking his lips.

"He does," Schillinger agreed, his face splitting into an ugly grin. He turned to Keller. "Did you brand him yet?"

Beecher's jaw dropped.

"Vern, branding humans went out of style a few centuries ago," Keller said patiently.

"Horseshit. They're livestock. That's the only way to keep the cattle in line," Schillinger scoffed.

Toby wanted to weep. "Shirley, please say you're not one of them," he begged. She seemed so nice. And she had even flirted with him a couple of times.

"I'm afraid so darlin'. I hope this doesn't change anything between us," Shirley answered ruefully.

Beecher didn't think it could get any worse, when Ryan O'Reily, his accountant for the past three years, showed up.

"Sorry I'm late. Traffic was murder," O'Reily groused. Then he saw Toby. "Hi Beech. I didn't know you and K-Boy here are neighbors," he said, greeting the blond with a jaunty wave.

Toby swayed on his feet, feeling faint.

"Hey, the strippers are here," Jaz interjected, perking up.

Sure enough, a horde of strippers had just arrived. There were even male ones for the ladies. Apparently demons believed in gender equality.

Before Beecher could warn them, Howell and Hoyt had already herded the scantily dressed bunch inside.

"So Keller, could I nibble on your human for a little bit?" Robson asked, never taking his eyes off Beecher.

At those words, Toby went from petrified to pissed off in .06 seconds. He'd be damned if he let a neo-Nazi redneck turn him into his personal chew toy. "Nobody's nibbling on me," he growled, getting up in Robson's face, "and even if you do, I'll take a chunk out of you first."

That was a foolhardy move on Beecher's part; it only turned Robson on even more when his quarry fought back. Keller was about to snatch the blond out of harm's way when O'Reily beat him to it.

"Always thought you were a pussy Beecher, but I guess I was wrong," Ryan chortled, grabbing the lawyer's arm and steering him away from the group. "Though you shouldn't mouth off to Robson like that. Not if you want to keep all your limbs."

"Why are you helping me? You're a demon too, aren't you?" Beecher demanded.

Ryan looked a bit hurt. "We're buddies, aren't we? And you're ok for a mortal," he replied, as they reached Toby's house. "Your home is the safest place. You'll be fine as long as you don't let anybody in." He opened the door and gently pushed the lawyer inside.

Beecher noticed O'Reily only got so far as the threshold.

"One last thing; I'd avoid Schillinger if I were you. He's a mean sonofabitch."

_______________________

A few hours later...

"Please go away," Toby moaned, seeing Chris standing by the foot of his bed again. He knew he was dreaming, but he grabbed a cross nonetheless, brandishing it in front of him like a shield.

He expected Keller to cower in fear just like in the movies, but the fucker didn't even flinch. He just cocked his head to the side, amused.

"It's just a piece of wood if you don't have faith to back it up," Chris informed him. "I know for a fact that you stopped going to church ever since you moved out of your parents' house."

Toby's shoulders slumped in defeat. Chris was right.

"But hey, you get a gold star for effort," Keller said, trying to soothe the distraught blond. "Most folks ended up insane and gibbering in a corner after finding out about us. So that's something."

"Why are you here?"

Keller coughed. He seemed embarrassed. "I want to apologize on behalf of James and Vern. Those guys are dicks. I didn't mean to upset you."

"So you're one of the good demons. Lucky me," Toby deadpanned.

"I just want to be your friend. That's all I ask," Keller murmured, sounding so earnest. He looked like he wanted to say something more, but thought better of it.

"Good night Toby."

And with that, he was gone.

_______________________

Beecher thought Keller would finally leave him alone, but the brunet appeared again the next night.

Toby dropped his head into his hands. "Why are you tormenting me?"

"I told you, I want to be your friend," Chris replied. He sat near the edge of the bed, maintaining a respectful distance from the skittish blond. "Where else could I get to talk to you? You won't let me inside your place, and you don't want to visit mine either."

"You refuse to enter my house without permission, but you have no qualms invading my dreams. What kind of skewed logic is that?" Beecher said, incredulous.

Keller shrugged. "I'm just taking what I could get."

"Fair enough," Beecher conceded, albeit reluctantly. His eyes wandered over to Keller's wings. He had been itching to touch them ever since that fateful night, but was too afraid to do so.

Chris helped him out and slowly extended a wing towards Toby.

Beecher tentatively brushed his fingers along a couple of feathers. Fluttering under his hand, it felt like warm velvet.

Keller gave a pleased sigh. It had been so long since someone touched him like that.

"They used to be white. Unblemished," Chris revealed, his gaze distant and wistful.

Toby knew the story. "Then you rebelled and fell from Heaven."

Keller said nothing. The disgraced angel curled inward and wrapped his wings around himself, consumed in his grief.

Demon or not, Toby couldn't help but pity him.

________________________

Keller's nocturnal visits eventually became a routine. It came to a point that Beecher didn't find conversing with an unholy being disturbing anymore.

"So what do you do, aside from damning souls to eternal hellfire?"

Chris laughed. "I don't do that anymore. Hell is crowded enough as it is."

"I find that hard to believe."

"It's true. The 21st century pretty much made demons obsolete, so we're kinda doing our own thing nowadays." Chris stretched out on the bed and put his arms behind his head, displaying his magnificent pecs.

Toby momentarily forgot what they were talking about.

"I'm a stockbroker."

"Sorry, what?"

"I work in Wall Street."

Beecher snorted. "Figures."

Keller looked offended. "I might be conning people out of their life savings, but what I'm doing is totally legit."

"Riiiight."

"Hey pal, do you know who is the king of lawyers? It's ol' Luci himself. That's why there are so many of your kind burning downstairs," Chris divulged, smiling nastily. "The laws of God and the laws of man don't necessarily correlate."

Toby blanched.

"It's not too late to switch careers, just sayin'." Chris rolled over and regarded Toby closely. "So what's up with you and this house? Seems too big for just one person," he remarked, maneuvering the topic of conversation somewhere else.

Toby fidgeted. "I bought it for my fiancée. It was supposed to be our dream home, then she broke it off," he said, trying to sound casual but failing miserably.

"Why?" Chris probed, genuinely interested.

"Genevieve said I drink and work too much," the blond confessed, averting his eyes. He couldn't believe he was spilling his guts to a demon, of all people.

"You've always been prone to excess Tobe. That's gonna get you in trouble someday," Keller said sagely.

Beecher glared. "Oh, so you're my therapist now?"

"Considering you're talking to a guy whose life is one long series of fuck-ups and poor impulse control, yeah, I know what I'm talking about."

Toby continued to scowl.

"You're so cute when you pout like that," Keller said, chuckling.

That threw Beecher off for a minute. "You're flirting with me," he said, aghast.

"Uh huh."

Beecher made a strangled noise. "What happened to the 'I just want to be friends' bullshit?"

"Toby, you've been lusting after me ever since we met," Chris pointed out. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. I tend to have that effect on people."

"And you're an arrogant bastard."

The brunet merely smirked in response. He crawled towards the blond and leaned in close, feathers caressing Beecher's cheek. "Deny it all you want, but you and I know how this little fandango ends."

Keller winked and left.

______________________

Chris had stopped visiting him.

He ignored Beecher and went about his business, strutting in his designer suits, looking like sin personified.

Sometimes Keller left his windows open, giving the whole neighborhood an eyeful of his naked ass and scandalizing everyone.

This went on for months, and it vexed Toby to no end. And yes, he was pining for Chris a bit.

The guy was smart and funny, and it didn't hurt that he was the most gorgeous creature Toby had ever seen. He was perfect, except for the whole demon thing.

Beecher was in for another night of staring at the ceiling when the doorbell rang.

He found Chris leaning against the doorway.

"Hey Toby. Did you miss me?" Keller said, eyes twinkling. It appeared that he was trying not to laugh.

"Fuck you."

"Yes please."

Beecher's lips twitched, trying not to smile.

Both just stood there, shy all of a sudden.

"May I come in?" Chris asked softly.

"Promise you won't suck out my soul?"

"I'll be too busy sucking on your other parts, believe me," the brunet quipped.

It took all of Beecher's willpower not to pounce on Keller right then and there.

"Will you let me in, Toby?" Keller asked again.

Toby knew he was risking his sanity, his soul, pretty much everything if he agreed.

Chris just watched him, waiting patiently.

"Yes," Toby breathed, and let himself fall.


End file.
